Alexey Zhidkovsky: “I am who I am. Who is in the passport is in life"

BIOGRAPHY

Ivan loves to remember his childhood and is grateful to fate for growing up in the “right” family. He calls his parents “the perfect tandem.” When the first-born was born, the father was 19, the mother was 20, they met at school. Vanya grew up as an only child (several years ago he had a sister, Lisa: mom and dad adopted the baby from an orphanage). My father became an engineer, my mother a lawyer. In the “roaring nineties”, my father lost his job and went into business, opened a store and a production cooperative and provided the family with a decent life - even going on vacation abroad. When Vanya turned nine, the family moved to Kaliningrad: this was required by his father’s business. And six years later she returned back (however, now the Zhidkovs have acquired their own home there: the mild Baltic climate suits little Liza more than the harsh Ural climate). In calm, safe Kaliningrad, Ivan was surrounded by children from prosperous families. In Yekaterinburg, classmates communicated in camp slang, looked older than their years, shaved and matched with girls. Vanya, at 15, looked like an 11-year-old, he was the smallest and deadest, the girls didn’t pay attention to him. He compensated for this with terrible pugnacity. Mom was called to school with enviable regularity. I studied terribly: it was uninteresting. But he constantly made his classmates laugh with his clowning and fables, which he used to justify being late. Dad adhered to Domostroevsky methods of education and spanked his son mercilessly for offenses, but this did not help. But the teenager enjoyed boxing, went to the section, and participated in competitions. Then he quit, but came back again. Now Ivan understands that he was walking on the very edge. Friends repeatedly offered him a syringe with heroin, but he had the strength and intelligence to refuse. The boy was fascinated by his father's stories about business, he often went to his dad's work. The future looked clear: a technical university and my own company. His father believed that Vanya should enter the Ural Polytechnic Institute. The guy even - with disgust - went to preparatory courses. But chance intervened. The father saw recordings of antics and sketches that his son recorded on a video camera, and said: “You should become an actor...”. And soon he offered to go to a casting for a commercial for a local computer store. Ivan was approved for the role. Dad watched the video and... Ivan ended up attending preparatory courses at the Yekaterinburg Theater Institute. And I realized that I had found myself. On New Year's Day 2000, he and a friend went to Moscow, fell in love with this city and decided: he would enroll in the capital. Ivan failed his audition at the Shchepkinsky School. And it was held at the Moscow Art Theater School. He didn’t get into a government-funded place, but his parents were able to pay for his studies. In 2004, Zhidkov graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School (course of Evgeniy Kamenkovich).

Childhood

Since birth, Lesha has lived in St. Petersburg. He attended a public English-language school. Exact sciences were difficult for the boy - several times there was a possibility of remaining in the second year due to poor performance in algebra, geometry and physics. But already during this period he began to form his own image and style of clothing.

Since the school rules regarding appearance were quite strict (dress pants, shirt and jacket), Alexey began to emphasize his individuality with various accessories. Then jackets were used, which formally still belonged to the classic style, but at the same time were much more elegant in shape. As the blogger recalls in one of his interviews, in the period from 9th to 11th grade his wardrobe already included many provocative, pretentious things, including a hot pink jacket or bell-bottom trousers. By this time, the teaching staff had already become accustomed to Alexei’s appearance and attributed everything to youthful maximalism, being more worried about the results of his exams.

THEATER

Even before graduation, the young actor was noticed by Oleg Tabakov, who could have noticed him during the entrance exams. They say that when the master first saw Ivan, he said: “What a sunny boy, he looks like Seryozha Bezrukov!” So the second-year student ended up in “Snuffbox,” where he made his stage debut in the role of Peter in the play “The Last Ones” and also played a missionary in “Sunday Super,” Kennesi in “Biloxi Blues,” and Syracusers in “Overstocked Barrel.” A little later, Tabakov invited Zhidkov to the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater for the role of Dmitry in “Yu”. There, the actor also played Nikolka Turbin in The White Guard. For this role, Zhidkov received his first theater award - he became a laureate of the Moscow Debuts theater festival. In 2007, Ivan Zhidkov decided to leave repertory theaters. At that time, the actor had already managed to “light up” in cinema, and for some time he decided that a film career was preferable for him to the theater stage. In addition, he realized that it was quite difficult for him to work in a repertory theater - this requires “a certain type of character.” However, he did not completely abandon the theatrical stage: Ivan periodically participates in enterprise performances. The actor’s most striking works here were the roles of Gordon Whitehouse in the play “Don’t Wake a Sleeping Dog” based on the work of J. Priestley “Dangerous Turn” (dir. Olga Shvedova), Slava in the production of “Five Evenings” based on the play of the same name by A. Volodin (dir. Olga Anokhina), Paula in “Territory of Love” based on Michael Christopher’s play “The Lady is Waiting, the Clarinet is Playing” (dir. Vladimir Pankov) and a triumphant return after a long break in the play “Wheel of Fortune” based on the cult novel by Yuri Polyakov “The Kid in the Milk” theatrical .

MOVIE

Ivan received his first film role—in Pyotr Todorovsky’s military melodrama “In the Constellation of the Bull”—in his first year, at the age of 17. “The work lasted for three years, and I am grateful to fate that all this time it gave me the opportunity to communicate with an amazing director and person. I knew little about my profession, I tormented Pyotr Efimovich, but he never shouted at me, didn’t swear, and showed angelic patience,” recalls Zhidkov. However, despite the positive and even some enthusiastic reviews from film critics, the film undeservedly remained practically unknown to the general audience. In 2005, Ivan Zhidkov agreed to work on the fourth, and subsequently the fifth, season of the TV series “Soldiers”. He played Sergeant Samsonov - a role that brought some fresh breath into the development of the plot of the series. The ironic and self-confident heartthrob and eternal opponent of the vengeful Kudashov immediately fell in love with the audience of “Soldier”. Soon Zhidkov was invited to film the series “Emergency-6” and “Deadly Force-6”. In the same year, the rising star of Russian cinema played the main role of Max Vanyukhin in the magnificent serial drama “Vanyukhin’s Children,” directed by Yuri Moroz based on the story of the same name by Grigory Ryazhsky. A little later, Ivan Zhidkov gains experience in filming soap operas. The role of Leni Lobov in the melodramatic series “Love is Like Love” (320 episodes) discouraged the actor from participating in such “soap” projects in the future, but Ivan did not refuse offers to work on serial television films. Since 2008, Ivan Zhidkov has starred in notable, sometimes even iconic films for Russian cinema: the military drama “Storm Gates”, the adventure film “Network”, the melodrama “Kilometer Zero” (where he got the leading role for the first time), the comedy “The Smile of God” . The general public remembers the actor for his extraordinary role as Maxim in the fantasy action film Black Lightning. The friend and rival of the main character Dmitry, according to most viewers, is a negative character. However, Zhidkov considers his hero a stupid, sincere and slightly naive young man who walks down a slippery slope, making the wrong choice when reassessing life values. In 2010, Ivan Zhidkov starred in the first Russian 3D film “The Dark World”, in which he got one of the main roles - botanist student Kostik. In 2011, several series with Ivan’s participation were aired on television: “In Love and Unarmed,” “Made in the USSR,” “My Dear Daughter,” “Let Them Talk.” In addition, he starred in Valery Todorovsky’s action film “Return to A.” The actor says that his karma is playing the roles of good guys, but he “so wants to play someone nasty, terrible, vile.” He also admits that he is not a fan of arthouse, intellectual cinema: he thinks that he has not yet matured to the point where he can name Bergman or Fellini films among his favorites: “For me, it is important to make films that are made for the sake of the viewer. Even if it's a series. I don’t understand why you should act in films that no one will see, except for a few film critics. I have this guideline: if I understand that a movie will be uninteresting to young people, especially boys, then I don’t participate in it.” And he also considers himself a very unpretentious artist: “For example, I know that on all Russian film sets they feed very poorly - almost once a day, and even then in such a way that it is better not to eat. Someone is always indignant about this. I never say anything, but take care of my nutrition myself: I order food from a cafe or bring it with me from home.”

AWARDS

• 2004 — Laureate of the IX Moscow Debuts theater festival for the role of Nikolka Turbin in the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater play “The White Guard” based on the play by M. A. Bulgakov. • 2006 - Medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation “For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth” for the role of Kostya Vetrov in the series “Storm Gates”. • 2008 - Prize for “Best Supporting Actor” in the film “Zero Kilometer” at the XVI festival of film actors “Constellation-2008” in Tver. • 2009 - Prize for “Best Actor” in the film “The Smile of God, or a Pure Odessa Story” at the XV Russian Film Festival “Literature and Cinema” in Gatchina. • 2010 — Prize “For the best performance of the leading male role” in the film “The Smile of God, or a Pure Odessa Story” at the III Cheboksary International Film Festival.

Creative career

Zhidkov easily passed the casting and after filming decided to become an artist. His father supported his decision, although his relatives were overcome by doubts; no one thought that the boy would be accepted into the capital’s theater university without money and connections .

In 2000, Zhidkov entered the Moscow Art Theater School without any problems, although at that time there was a huge competition there. He becomes a promising student, one of the best on the course.
Oleg Tabakov notices a talented actor, and while still studying, Vanya makes his debut in the famous “Tabakerka”.
In 2003, the student played his first film role; it was filming in a film directed by the famous director Pyotr Todorovsky.
In 2004, Zhidkov received a diploma in the profession of an actor and joined the troupe of Oleg Tabakov's theater.
At the same time, the actor played in performances of the Theater. A.P. Chekhov.
Since 2007, the actor left his theater and life and devoted himself entirely to filming films and TV series.

Today, the actor has the right to choose roles; many directors want to see Ivan Zhitkov on the set.

PERSONAL LIFE

In 2006, Ivan had an affair with actress Ekaterina Semenova: “I am incredibly grateful to Katya for everything. During the year that we lived together, she gave me a lot, taught me a lot. And not only because she is 12 years older than me, Katya is just a very interesting, intelligent, extraordinary person.” In March 2007, Ivan Zhidkov joined a friend who was meeting his good friend, actress Tatyana Arntgolts, at the airport: “When Tanya got into the car, I looked at her and thought: “She will become my wife.” The romance between Ivan and Tatyana developed rapidly; they got married in the fall of 2008, and on September 15, 2009, the couple had a daughter, Maria. According to Zhidkov, “I had love at first sight with my ex-wife, but that never happened again. But, as practice shows, love at first sight is not forever.” In the summer of 2013, the couple divorced. The divorce, however, did not affect the relationship between father and daughter: “I live separately, but from time to time Masha lives with me,” says Ivan. — Since Tanya is also an artist and often leaves, I can take my daughter with me. At home there are her things, a room. Now I have moved from the center of Moscow to the countryside, and it has become easier to spend time together than within four walls. There is always something to do: you can ride downhill, walk, run.” The actor claims that his daughter is already clearly showing artistic inclinations, she wants to become an artist and has already starred with him in the TV series “Karpman’s Triangle.” In March 2020, the actor introduced his new love to the public. Ivan met 23-year-old student Lilya while mastering the Periscope network. Soon, virtual communication grew into a romantic relationship, but Zhidkov is in no hurry to formalize them: according to him, after his divorce from Arntgolts, he radically revised his views on relationships, marriage and family. Now completely different priorities dominate his life: “Lilya knows that I don’t see myself in the registry office, with diapers and so on. “I see myself as a self-sufficient, free person who can be in a relationship with a woman and be responsible for it.” Among Ivan’s new priorities now is the “battle for health.” Slender in his youth, Zhidkov began to “dissolve” after 25 years: he could not cope with changes in metabolism, he ate and drank a lot. Extra pounds began to accumulate. By the age of 28, I realized the need for change. Ivan immediately identified his main enemy - alcohol. He was never a drunkard, but he loved to drink (“At one time, drinking occupied quite a large place in my life”) and because of this he could not fully engage in sports. It was very difficult to stop, but “at some point I thought about how I wanted to see myself: unkempt and fat or fit and healthy? I chose the second one. I gave up alcohol, cut down on sweets, resumed regular boxing, and started running. These are all seemingly simple, basic things, but the result was not long in coming - I lost 12 kg.” The former avid smoker said goodbye to tobacco back in 2006. Zhidkov still considers himself a “fierce warrior”: he plays a lot of sports, eats healthy food, and has recently given up meat.

INTERESTING FACTS

As a 10th grader, Ivan pulled off a small scam. While vacationing with his family in Sochi, he heard about blue clay that gets rid of wrinkles. I chopped 20 kg of stones and only at home, in Yekaterinburg, I realized that it was ordinary limestone. However, he did not give up. I collected coffee grinders from my grandmothers, burned them all, but made a huge pile of flour from these stones. The first experiment was carried out on my mother. She said that the effect of the mask is “obvious.” Ivan packaged the blue dust into bags, printed out instructions on the computer and began selling. And he sold almost all 20 kg, earning good money.
Ivan’s favorite time of day is morning. It follows a certain ritual: getting up at seven or eight in the morning, a glass of water with honey on an empty stomach, 25 push-ups, a three-kilometer run, dousing with ice water, yoga classes and breakfast - oatmeal on water with pomegranate, honey, nuts and a cup of coffee.
Zhidkov’s favorite film remains “Terminator 2”. He watched it 12 times when he was a kid and still loves Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Zhidkov claims that no one starts a family with the thought of the possibility of its collapse, and he himself was sure that his marriage to Tatyana Arntgolts was forever. However, the wording of the marriage proposal sounded like this: “Listen, Tan, maybe we should get married? Why wait? Well, if we have to, we’ll get a divorce.”
For eight years - from 1991 to 1998 - Ivan lived in Kaliningrad on the same street as Tatyana, in a neighboring house, studied at a nearby school, but did not know his future wife. Then they simultaneously studied in Moscow (Arntgolts - at the Shchepkinsky School) and lived in the neighboring entrances of the hostel, but they also never saw each other there. Ivan’s parents, having built a house in Kaliningrad, continue to communicate with Tatyana’s parents even after the children’s divorce.
Ivan loves to cook and has always tried to do it in an interesting and creative way. Now he practically doesn’t do this due to lack of time; he eats in restaurants or orders food on the Internet. His only signature dish, which he still impresses his friends with, is honey chicken wings.
From November 28 to December 29, 2011, Ivan Zhidkov was the host of the 20-episode documentary series “Front-line Moscow. The story of victory" on the Zvezda TV channel.

Artist biography

Actor Zhidkov was born in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg on August 28, 1983. At the moment, Ivan is 34 years old. The boy was weak, he was sick throughout his childhood and looked much younger than his peers, who constantly mocked him because of this.

As a child, Vanya never showed acting talent. His parents were businessmen. The boy studied well. To avoid ridicule from his peers, the father took his son to a boxing class when the child was 9 years old. At the same time, the whole family moved to live in Kaliningrad.

After school, Vanya was going to enter a technical university. The father heard that they were filming an advertisement for a computer store and invited the teenager to try his hand at it.

DIRECT SPEECH

About myself: “Honest, responsive, emotional, quite responsible, I can be very energetic. I am good because I want to be better - this is my main advantage. But I have many shortcomings. I am very changeable in my decisions, quick-tempered, emotional, my mood can jump.” About the girls I like: “I myself don’t know exactly what kind of girls I like. Always different. But I can say one thing: I like beautiful, small, slender girls, and even with tattoos. I love it when a girl has taste, because clothes are a person’s inner state and sense of self. A woman should be dressed with taste, be neat and tidy. ... I am interested in self-sufficient women who represent something of themselves. A woman must be smart...to have human eyes. So that the light would shine in them, and there would be at least some hope.” On dream roles: “I still want to play Khlestakov in The Government Inspector.” ... I've always been drawn to comedy. My appearance is like this - more in the direction of the hero. But I want to play or host something entertaining. For example, a show where you can joke a lot. ... I really want to play some historical characters, bring their image to life. At the same time, I understand that this is much more difficult than playing fictional characters. This is more serious and this is a completely different level of responsibility.” About filming in Hollywood: “It’s unlikely that I’ll be invited to big roles. My English is like that of a Tajik and Russian. And rarely have any of our actors been offered anything worthy in Hollywood. ... I was in the States before filming the film “The Smile of God,” where I played the young American Alen, who ended up in Odessa. For the role, I wanted to “see” how ordinary people live in the USA.” On leaving the repertory theater: “I just realized that the stationary theater system was not for me. I am a freedom-loving person, and it seemed to me more correct if I belonged to myself. Besides, I like acting in films more than acting on stage. And I have never regretted leaving." About filming in TV series: “I don’t see anything terrible or shameful in this for an actor. I am still an underprivileged person. Yes, by going into a long-term project, I am very much risking my reputation, but at the same time I am solving all my financial problems. This is a double-edged sword... But I don’t act in everything. It is important for me to act in films that are made for the sake of the viewer. Even if it's a series... We live in the era of TV series, when venerable directors do not disdain this genre. Everything is relative: there are high-quality films and low-quality ones, and the same goes for TV series. I like acting in both films and TV series.” On dealing with negativity: “The point is that there is always something in life that can irritate, but sometimes it’s just pointless to pay attention to it. Negative emotions are completely unproductive. If you want to correct a situation, then it is better to correct it with deeds, and not with shouts - I think so.” On the institution of marriage: “Now I doubt the need for a family in the sense in which we are used to thinking about it. What function, following tradition, does a woman perform in the family? She cooks food, takes care of the children, her appearance, and so on. Nowadays, no one cooks food for a long time, and there’s nothing to say about sex - it’s basically like buying a can of cola. That is, the functions of a woman as a wife are reduced to zero; they are compensated by a completely accessible service sector. And it's the same for women. Everything has become equal: women earn the same as men.” About Moscow: “Moscow is a huge metropolis with a certain energy. Everyone here is fixated on themselves, has some kind of goal, as if they are trying to survive. People simply collide with their protective helmets, but do not want to come into contact with each other. But I’m already used to it, Moscow has become a second home for me!” About other people's shortcomings: “Of course, I don’t like rudeness. And, you know, cowardice. When a person is not able to answer for his words, he can easily betray and change his principles. I prefer to avoid people who deceived me.” About the role of gadgets in his life: On my smartphone I have social networks, a notebook, photos, and various applications. I can't imagine a day without posting a photo somewhere. And just a couple of clicks and everyone is aware of your news, you got a bunch of likes. If the Internet breaks, it’s the end of the world!” On star status: “I admit, I think about money a lot and often, because without it a person, by and large, cannot do anything in life. And I'm also vain. If they recognized me on the street, asked for autographs, tore me to pieces, to be honest, I would get a thrill from it. After all, I went to Moscow with a specific goal - to become a “superstar”.

Based on materials from wikipedia.org, theater.ru, mirnov.ru, eg.ru, kp.ru, peopletalk.ru, ivanzhidkov.ru, https://teleprogramma.pro, ok-magazine.ru, wday.ru, womanhit. ru, ampravda.ru, worldpodium.ru, 7days.ru, gotroitsk.ru, vokrug.tv, cosmo.ru, tele.ru, 59.ru, starhit.ru, afisha.kbs.ru, uznayvse.ru

Alexey Zhidkovsky: “I call myself cattle in a secular wrapper”

healthy lifestyle

In my opinion, a healthy lifestyle, forgive me of course, is complete imbecility. In 80% of cases, ardent fans of this lifestyle, who advocate the rejection of forbidden fruits, are simply morally weak individuals who are afraid of death. A person is designed in such a way that he needs to believe in something higher: someone believes in God, goes to church every week, prays, and because of this he is confident in his own safety under the supervision of the all-seeing eye. And some, let’s call them “proponents of common sense,” believe in science. They naively believe that by eliminating harmful substances from their lives, be it nicotine or alcohol, they will live up to a hundred years. Comrades, alas, we will all be “there” anyway. It’s just that some people can be donated for organ transplants to those in urgent need, but others cannot.

Relationships in a party

Sometimes I overdrink and, in an angry wave, tell others everything I think. If someone doesn’t agree, I start getting personal, and my favorite column, “Hello Squirrel,” begins. If, God forbid, someone looks at me the wrong way, I won’t stand aside either. And the next morning, having done something, the first thing I do is call my colleagues who are going out together. If they don’t answer the phone, then that’s it, it’s the end: you can pretend that I’ve completed the maximum program on the deviance scale. The main disadvantage is that I am from that category of people who will never apologize themselves. If you want to be offended, go cry in the corner! In order not to be horrified by my own frank messages in the messenger, I always do one thing, which I advise you to do: after writing, I immediately delete the contents of the correspondence, so that on a hungover morning the conversation will be clear and I will not know what I said. We are all not perfect, and of course, you can discuss someone, gossip, whatever else. But if the hero of the conversation has heard your statements about him, you cannot refuse. I weed out the hypocrites and don’t give them a second chance, I’ve made too many mistakes. I also don’t like naive people, because most often, out of stupidity, they say a lot of unnecessary things. You can't tell them anything. They think that everyone around them is such a bunny, no one will convey their words to anyone. And then it is because of them that huge scandals happen in companies, after which many people stop communicating. Moreover, these naive people do not become extreme, they continue to communicate with them, because they are good, they did not want to do harm. There are also cases of word of mouth, because of which you can remain on the edge of the party. For example, Lenka argues with the so-called Anka, and Anka’s dad works at Gazprom. Anka is close friends with Petka, whose dad is the owner of a yacht club, where every summer a large reception with buffets is held. Anya will say to Petka: “Petka, oh Petka, don’t call that Lenka, she called me a stooped dog.” So Lenka was in trouble, because all her friends would go to the party, and she lost her privilege. And so on. Therefore, you need to be careful in your statements: today you are welcome everywhere, but tomorrow you will be blacklisted. As for my friends, they were always much older than me. Which I am very happy about, because they point out mistakes and shortcomings to me, I analyze them and change for the better.

FILMOGRAPHY: ACTOR

Never say “Never” (2019), TV series
The Night After Graduation (2017)
Someone else's happiness (2017), TV series
I Never Cry (2016)
Heart Failure (2016)
My Revolution (2016)
Pearls (2016), TV series
Express Business Trip (2016)
Run! (2016)
Separation Cure (2015)
Sonata for Faith (2015)
In secret around the world (2015)
Second marriage (2015)
Prince of Siberia (2014), TV series
Love Blooms in Spring (2014), TV series
Brotherly Ties (2014)
Packed (2013)
For You (2013)
Imprint of Love (2013)
Lace (2013)
Gyulchatay. For Love (2013), TV series
The way to a man's heart (2013)
Give Me Sunday (2012)
Night Shift (2012)
Surveillance (2012)
Night violet (2012)
Cornflowers (2012)
Gyulchatay (2012)
Pure sample (2011), TV series
Made in the USSR (2011), TV series
Swallow's Nest (2011)
My dear daughter (2011)
Return to "A" (2011)
White Crow (2011)
Dark World (2010)
Fate's mysterious tomorrow (2010), TV series
Elephant (2010)
Let Them Talk (2010)
Last Minute (2010)
Peter and the Wolves (2010)
In Love and Unarmed (2010)
Black Lightning (2009)
Theft Rules (2009)
Ivan the Terrible (2009), TV series
The Smile of God, or a Pure Odessa Story (2008)
The Most Beautiful-2 (2008), TV series
Network (2007)
Zero Kilometer (2007)
Love is like love (2006-2007), TV series
The Man of No Return (2006)
Formula zero (2006)
Storm Gates (2006)
Lethal force-6 (2005), TV series
Soldiers-5 (2005), TV series
Soldiers-4 (2004), TV series
Ambulance-2 (2005), TV series
Children of Vanyukhin (2005)
White Guard (2005)
Dream Factory (2004)
On Verkhnyaya Maslovka (2004)
In the constellation of the bull (2003)